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Down Amongst the Cedars – Murrin Park
Down Amongst the Cedars (DATC) is a new freshly scrubbed primarily trad cliff accessed
through Murrin Park. Nestled within mature second growth forest 5 – 10 minutes from Pet Wall,
the west-facing aspect of DATC receives filtered afternoon sunshine and peacefully shelters the
crag from the high decibel environs of Highway 99. The cruxes of DATC’s traditionally protected
routes utilize a uniquely wide variety of climbing techniques: Slopey mantles, technical crimps and
side pulls, Jug Hauling on incut flakes and Jamming on moderate to mega steep cracks. Incut
flakes, horizontal breaks, and vertical cracks provide bomber protection opportunities beyond
the bolt protected open faces. A standard Squamish rack with cams sized from 0.3” to 3” should
be adequate, with doubles in the 0.3” to 1.5” range particularly useful. The cliff increases in
steepness from south to north, providing routes graded range from 5.8 to really, really, hard.
The northernmost sector of the cliff is a rock tsunami overhanging 3m in 15 m. The climbing could
best be characterized as combining Pet Wall crimping with the incut flakes of Flying Circus.
Approach
From the Murrin Park parking lot, head around Browning Lake to the start of the Murrin
Loop trail. Follow the Pet wall branch of the Murrin Loop Trail to the lowest western end of
Pet Wall (Heavy Petting area). Follow a short trail (50m) to the southwest which merges onto an
old forestry road bed with immature cedar growing on it. Follow the cut trail on this road bed
downhill until an approximately 10m high cliff appears on the left (south) side of the road and
scattered small rock bluffs disappear on the right (north) side. A small drainage will come into
the road on the right side at this point. Follow a trail along this drainage for approximately 100m
and the cliff will be on your right. Alternatively, a trail exists from Up amongst the Firs to DATC.
This trail is brand new and is still a little rough around the edges but should improve with traffic.
It passes by two other high potential cliffs.
Route Descriptions
1. Monkey See, Monkey Do. 5.8.
Trad. Chris Small. 2014.
Henry Rollins said “monkey
see, Monkey do, Monkey will
destroy you”, but this route
won’t. Start on jugs right of
thin crack, then follow thin
crack up and left past the
widow maker tree to end on
anchor.
2. Cat herding. 5.9. Trad. Chris
Small. 2014. Herding cats is
probably easier than trying
to get a Squamite climber to
be belay slave for an
overzealous scrubber on a
nice day. Climb bottom half
of Monkey See, Monkey Do.
Traverse left at the large
midway ledge to a series of left facing flakes to the second anchor from right.
Extendable draws needed for rope management
3. Not fully equipped. Open Project. 12+? Needs two bolts in top fingery section. Climb
through stepped roof to gain access to easy slab above. Climb the left leaning
traverse crack leading to a fingery finish ending on the anchors of the 2. Hard core
Squamish boulderers will love this route.
4. My Nice Butt. 5.8. Trad. Chris Small, 2014. How relationship success eludes me is
baffling considering that many women seem to consider my ass to be fantastic. After
all they consistently say "Your nice butt....." Starts on Monkey See and Traverses into
the ramp corner into the anchors of Like Pulling teeth.
5. Into the Jaws. Open Project 2. Mixed. Climb the Right side of the ’Fang’ on the Left Side
of large roof. Dyno (?)
over the roof on the
slab above then proceed
to the “Crime” –like
splitter finger crack.
Looks stellar.
6. Like Pulling Teeth. Open Project
3. Mixed. Layback the Left side of the
Fang over a small roof to a thin crack
splitting ledge series. Proceed to the
fingery bolt protected face and then
up the right facing corner systems.
7. Batteries Not Included. 5.10 +.
Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. Climb the
first 3 m of Mantel Problems to the
first horizontal break. Traverse the
horizontal break into a shallow right
facing corner and continue up and
through a series of right facing
corners to the anchor below an Ent -
like Douglas Fir. Extendable draws
are critical for rope management. A
potential much harder direct start
variation exists to Batteries Not
included. Not fully built yet and
requires a second bolt at crux.
8. Mantel Problems. ***5.10+. Mixed.
Chris Small. 2014. I figure I must
have these to take on such a massive
cleaning project without help. Climb
the perfectly spaced fat flakes to
the technical shallow left facing
corner. Surmount the corner to
face the small roof above.
9. Experiencing Technical Difficulties.
5.11-. Matt Magee. 2014. Starting in
the second corner past Mantel
Problems, head up to the bolted
traversing scoop. Crimp and smear
your way through the scoop to
merge back onto Mantel Problems
below the roof.
10. And the Cat came back. ***5.10-.
Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. “And
He should have been a goner”-
The Name is inspired by a NFB
short film and a near death
experience while Cleaning this
route. And yet the Cat (me) was
back scrubbing the next day.
Superb sporty crux.
11. The Weirdo Next Door. ***. 5.10-.
Trad. Chris Small. 2014.
Traverse right at the first bolt
of Feeding The Rat up the
strange sandstone textured
ramp inclusion to the second horizontal break. Meander left and then back right.
Extendable draws assist with rope Management.
12. Feeding the rat. ***. 5.10 +-. Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. The technical crux knaws on
your fingers while feeding your internal rat visa ve Mark Twight. It seems this rat
prefers sushi.
13. Lost and Found***.5. 11-. Mixed. Chris
Small. 2014. This note below spotted
on the Chief Campground Bulletin
board describes the process of
“Manning Up” for this route. I finally
found my set again for the redpoint.
Bring some small gear for the crux.
14. Woman Up. 5.8. Trad. Gear to 4”. Chris Small. 2014. Hey Gals if you expect us Guys
to “Man Up” maybe you Gals should “Woman up” - you know, learn to cook, clean, do
domestic stuff…..? See isn’t that offensive gender stereotyping too? Climb the
right wide crack past cedar stump to ring anchors on big midway ledge.
15. Mechanical advantage. 5.9. Trad. Gear to 3”. Chris Small. 2014. Using all available
`Mechanical Advantages` certainly helps with this scrubbing game. Climb the Left
corner crack to shared ring anchor of Woman Up. The finish provides some
entertainment. An extension into the anchor of Feeding the Rat provides an extra
10- move or two.
16. Hatchett, Axe, and Saws-all. 5.11-. trad. Chris Small. 2014. “There is unrest in the
forest, There is trouble with the trees” Rush, 1978. Climb Mechanical Advantage to
approximately its midpoint. Head up the shallow left facing Corner on the slightly
overhanging headwall above to a prominent horizontal crack. Hand traverse the
Horizontal crack to gain the anchor.
17. The Land of Milf and Honeys. ***** 5.10+. Trad. Chris Small 2014. With recent
epidemic levels of pregnancy amongst Squamish’s “intimidatingly attractive” active
set creating peak population levels of Yummy Mummies it seems to be what Squamish
has become. Climb the series of incut flakes to the mid wall chain anchor. Bring
Double cams in the 0.3” – 0.5”
18. Dirty Divorcee AKA The land of Milf and Honey extension. 12c. Ben Harnden . 2014.
After the chain anchor the difficulties increase substantially despite appearances
from the ground.
19. Re-bequeathed. ****5.11 +. Sport. 8 bolts. Mike McCarthy. That which is given is
giveth away. Sustained pulling on crimps and side pulls with technical footwork.
Super good stuff.
20. The Day that Never Comes. ***. 5.9. Mixed. Pro to 1”. Chris Small, 2014. Certainly
felt like it for the IPO day of this cliff after about 400 hours cleaning and
landscaping here. That is a lot of Metallica in the headphones. Start in corner
below big cedar. Step right at cedar ledge and follow bolts to bomber incut
flakes and the shallow left face corner under the chains. Pretty fun stuff.
21. The Sad life of Bunsen Honey-Do. 5.10 -. Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. Originally the
chosen project of a valued climbing partner…until nesting season started. Climb
corner below cedar tree. continue to second ledge moving to incut Flake on right.
Climb over flake and back left up groove to the anchors. Balancey.
Fukushima Wall
This wall currently only has one route with potential for 4 to 5 more very hard routes
(5.13, 5.14?). The cliff’s Tsunami like shape and radical overhanging nature (3m – 4m in
15m) will likely cause the nuclear meltdown of many forearms.
22. High Alert. ***. 5.12b. 3 bolts + #2 Camalot. Mike McCarthy. Likely the
Easiest route on this Wall. Stick clip First bolt. Strenuous technical
underclinging, bouldery start leads to dynamic movement above.